Seeing as 2012 is coming to a close, we can look forward to a couple of things:
1. Our student graduation is coming up
2. Fall and Christmas flavours at Starbucks (in some parts of the world…)
3. Our trip to America is nearly here
4. We need to find students for next year’s YOYL program (and quick!)
After a meeting with our pastors and the finance team, they have indicated that we need 8 students in order for YOYL to carry on. No eight students? No YOYL.
BUT the good news is that we feel God is doing something good and new with Year of Your Life next year.
A few weeks ago, some of our mentors asked to meet with us because they know of a young person who wants to do YOYL. Out of this meeting, we identified three young men who would be perfect for YOYL. These three guys are from the rural community, but are very involved in their local churches and have a heart for reaching out. Piet and I mentored two of these guys while we were still at Refilwe and we identified them as “junior leaders” in our youth. It is amazing to see how they have picked up where we left off and are now coaching soccer, mentoring other young people, and teaching Sunday School.
About a month ago, we were speaking to a friend of ours and they were commenting that it is too bad that the people who need the training of YOYL the most are the ones that cannot afford it. But after this meeting, we feel that God is drawing people not necessarily always from the “better off” areas and those who can afford the program, but from the communities where they need training and equipping the most.
Two of these young guys will hopefully join us this next year, and the other will join us the following year. The biggest thing we are worried about now is their accommodation. We have to trust God that someone (possibly in our church) will open up their home for them to stay. Ideally we would like to find someone with a cottage in their yard where these guys could stay together. We also need to trust God for finances for their food.
In addition to these guys, we have additional 4 or so students from our church that are thinking about YOYL. So, in total we have about 7 interested. This is good news!
We are trying to make the most of these last 2 months of YOYL...can't believe it's gone so fast! We have been running a new outreach lately that seems to be working. Right across the road from the church is a community center (the one we re-painted a few months ago). So, we decided to do a "play day" every Friday. We invite the kids (and moms!) of the community to join us for games, jumping castle, and lots of sweets!
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